LETTER: Under the skin of mutant tomatoes

Mr Charlie Harris
Saturday 16 December 1995 00:02 GMT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.

The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.

Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.

From Mr Charlie Harris

Sir: When food such as a tomato rots, a number of chemical reactions take place, in which many different nutrients deteriorate at different rates. Some deteriorate remarkably rapidly.

Genetically engineered food may preserve the appearance of freshness, but does it preserve the freshness of all the nutrients involved (News Analysis: "Engineering a plateful of trouble?", 14 December)? Some attributes - such as bright colour and firm skin - are indicators that the food inside is fresh.

But if growers can interfere with the indicators, we can no longer trust what the appearance is telling us.

To put it another way, does genetic engineering keep food fresh - or does it keep it stale?

Yours,

Charlie Harris

London, NW3

15 December

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in